Stella: Mediator Life
by Estella Kuroi
Summary: A series of one-shots of my OC, Stella, mostly focusing on interactions with other OCs in the XCX fandom. Written and posted as part of the XCX second anniversary celebrations in 2017. Rated T for general XCX stuff, as well as a decent amount of language. Enjoy
1. Heartbeat: Stella

Haggard blue eyes gazed unsteadily back at Stella from the other side of the mirror. She shook her head to try and get the water out of her hair, but when she glanced up again, she looked like someone had dragged her backwards through a nest of grexes and gave up trying to do anything with the scraggy mess.

Leaning heavily on the basin in front of her, she stared blankly at her reflection, her eyes sliding over her faint freckles and the scar over her left _no, not left you idiot, that's the reflection, yours is on the right_ eye, before settling on the white star tattoos on the other side of her face. She'd got them so long ago that she'd almost forgotten why…

She ran the tap and splashed the icy cold water onto her face. _Dammit girl, keep it together. How the hell could you forget? Bastard sandstorm, bastard Tyrant, bastard fucking everything._ She shuddered at the memory of the massive vigent bearing down upon her and her team before biting down hard on her lower lip and hissing as the pain assaulted her senses. Focusing back to her surroundings, she brought her left hand up to her mouth. It came away dotted with blue.

She cursed. _Everywhere I go, everything I do, there's always a reminder of the fact that this body isn't human. Gods, how I'd wish for my original body back if I got the chance. That old, weak, frail husk of a shell._ Dragging her thumb across her lip to quickly clean the mess up, she washed the stuff off her hands before turning the tap off, plunging the room back into silence save for the occasional dripping that came from her hair. She rested her hand on the side of her neck, an old tic of hers that showed up whenever she was nervous. _Jeez, this is happening too often. Time to stab stuff again._

Something felt off. Stella's mind willed her body to move, to _get out the bloody door_ and find a Harrier mission to accept, but it refused to budge. Taking a breath, she closed her eyes and directed her thoughts around her body, searching for the problem. _My legs are obviously working since my knee's aching from smacking it this morning. I'm still breathing, though I don't know if this body even needs oxygen or whatever's in this planet's atmosphere to work properly. Then what…_

Stella went cold as she realised what was wrong. Something that had been bothering her for months ever since they had landed on Mira. Something that had always made her feel uneasy but hadn't had a finger placed on it until now.

She didn't have a pulse.

Trying not to panic, she rapidly wiped her lip again before placing two fingers on the side of her neck, desperately feeling for a sign of life. There was nothing. Not a trace of her humanity remained. She was stuck inside this abominable machine and there wasn't a single shred of evidence that she was, or had ever been, truly alive.

She shook her head once again. _Snap out of it sis. Why are you getting so worked up about it?_ But try as she might, she couldn't answer the question. Shakily lowering her arm back to its resting place on the side of the basin, she raised her head and stared back into her eyes once again.

 _What have we done…_


	2. Boredom: Homura

Sylvalum. The white continent. The Alabaster Desert. The Land of Sentient Fire Alarms. Call it what you will. Cold and Desolate, the wide open tundra left no place to hide, save for the occasional caves and caverns that bored deep into the high walls that rose above the area like monoliths, dwarfed only by the gigantic orb that loomed over the southern half of the region like a sentinel.

"You sure about this Homura? I'm not picking up any sort of distress signal on my comms."

"Positive. You think I'd stop hunting indigens and drive halfway across the continent for no reason at all?"

"I wouldn't put it past you. Well, if this turns out to be another trick of yours, at least I know who to point the finger at when we're a few hours late."

"You think I'd try and off you Stel? And lose one of my few friends?"

"You're hardly picky."

"Meh, true."

The two girls barrelled across the knee-deep water of Lake Ciel in their Skells, weaving between the legs of the gigantic Coronids that ambled throughout the area as they headed westwards towards the source of the signal.

"Gods, I hope they aren't in the secluded lava lake. I always find it nerve-wracking to leave my Skell anywhere out in the open."

"Look on the bright side. If we need to go in there, we might get lumbered with a fairer fight."

"Ha, fair? I've got a crazy-ass thunder knife and you've got that massive block of death on a stick. I feel sorry for anything, Indigen or Ganglion, that decides to take a pot-shot at us."

"Feeling sorry? Stella…are you coming down with a fever?"

"Pff, that's rich coming from you."

The two of them snorted with derisive laughter as their conversation spiralled out of control, only for it to be abruptly halted by a scream of pain, deeper than any a human could make and incredibly distorted. Only one thing on Mira could make that sound: Millisardi.

"Hey, uhh…you sure that that was a BLADE distress signal?"

"…"

"Well?"

"…It appears as though Artemis has set a trap for the Ganglion. And to think that we almost fell into it too."

"Let's leave Little Miss Boredass to her fun then. What were we at again?"

"11 Tersquals to you, 13 to me."

"Oh, you are _so_ going down!"


	3. Resolve: Rosetta

"You sure you wanna do this?"

"Yeah. I need to get stronger. I…well, that's not important at the moment."

"Alright. We can always talk about it afterwards. Draw."

Stella slid her knife from her hip and settled into her low, relaxed stance. Rosetta drew her swords and took her own stance, which Stella looked over. It was clearly based on the position that BLADE taught in basic combat training, but unlike the original, stiffer pose, Rosetta was far less tense, allowing her to react much quicker to her surroundings.

"So Rosie, how'd you want to do this? Start off easy and get to know each other's styles, or all in from the get go and see who collapses first?"

"One learns better in the heat of the moment. Show me what you've got."

Stella grinned for a second, savouring the thought of an all-out brawl. The she dashed forwards, bringing her knife up to deflect the defensive blow that she knew was already coming for her.

* * *

The two of them collapsed against the wall of the hall almost an hour later, utterly exhausted. Stella passed a water bottle to Rosetta before taking out a second one, and the two of them took gulps between their ragged breathes. It was a few minutes before they had the energy to speak.

"So Stel…how'd I do?"

"I won't sugar coat it, you're a damn sight better than you think you are. But I could feel your insecurity with every blocked swing of your swords."

Rosetta's eyes widened, but she let Stella continue. Was she really that easy to read?

"You're good. You're high up in the Interceptors and you deserve that spot just as much as anybody of your skill level. But everyone's got something. Irina lost her brother and she's still not recovered from it. Doug had all those debts to pay off, and now he's dealing with Lao's death. There's nothing shameful about having problems, and Mira's inhabitants are full of them. You're welcome to share as much or as little as you want, but there's no obligation."

Stella had another mouthful of water and set the bottle aside before pulling out her knife, as well as an old-fashioned whetstone attached to the outside of the sheath. As she began to look the knife over for dulled patches, Rosetta began to speak, brushing a few stray hairs out of her face.

"It's hard…everyone looks up to me because I'm good at fighting. But I've always felt like they shouldn't. I'm not like Hope or Lyn or H.B or…well, any of them. I'm only good at fighting. I'm not popular with the citizens or a childhood genius or anything like that. They're all so much better than me. Compared to them, all I can do is swing some swords around. I don't feel like I deserve what I've got."

Stella glanced up at Rosie before flipping her knife over and holding the handle out to her. After a hesitant moment, the Interceptor took it and began to look it over.

"Rosetta. You're more than deserving of your status. People look up to you for a reason. You do a lot more than just fighting, but if we look at it your way, then who cares if you're only good at swinging swords around? Take pride in your strengths. There's a lot more to you than just hunting indigens, but I'll leave you to find that out for yourself. Do some soul searching and find something else to take pride in, even if it's only one thing."

Rosetta passed the knife back to Stella, who sheathed it and stood up before offering the other a hand.

"You wanna get something to eat? It's on me. Mediator pay doesn't really do much more than sit there after all."

Rosie looked up and took Stella's hand, a determined half-smile forming on her face.

"Yeah. That'd be great. Thanks Stel. And thanks for the spar too."

"Any time, Rosie. Any time."


	4. Myosotis: Christie

The two of them sat on the bench in Deliverance Park, watching the world go by. Humans, Ma-non, Orpheans, Wrothians and even the occasional Prone or Zaruboggan walked past them, some alone, some together. Hope was taking the day off and the park itself was free from the usual crowd of people that the woman's talks so often attracted.

"It's nice here. The quietest part of the city. Even here, in this corner of the universe, it's nice to know that a fraction of Earth's beauty was saved."

Stella nodded absently. Christie was right: despite the vast expanse of stunning landscapes and oversized flora outside the walls of NLA, there was something comforting about sitting in the park without a care in the world. Just you, grass, flowers and whoever decided to sit next to you on the bench.

Stella had seen Christie there by herself, seemingly lost in thought. Not wanting to disturb the moment, she had simply sat down next to the other woman and opened her book. Sitting in her tree was nice and all, but it was hell for your back, even if you were a mimeosome. They'd been like that for a while before Christie had broken the silence.

"Yeah. It's good to have a quiet place in the city, away from the noise and bustle of the other districts. It's not as quiet as outside the walls, but it's far more comfortable and certainly less dangerous."

The two of them sat in silence for a while longer. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was starting to descend towards the horizon behind them, but neither minded. After the constant vigilance of the past few weeks of scares, both from ganglion and indigenous tyrants, half a day's peace was more than deserved.

* * *

Stella closed her book with a sigh. She only had a couple of chapters left, but it was getting dark and she'd need to find some food and finish the story under lamplight. She was about to stand up when something caught her eye: a group of tiny, pale blue flowers clustered around the back leg of her side of the bench. Curiosity getting the better of her, she bent down and gently pulled one up, turning it over and examining it.

"Forget-me-nots. They're pretty, aren't they?"

Stella turned, only to see Christie looking at her through tired eyes, a serene smile on her face.

"I planted them here myself. They don't have much scent during the day, but the fragrance really shows up in the evening and at night. It's quite calming."

Stella took a sniff of the one she'd pulled up. Christie was right: there was something about the smell that made her feel at ease. She passed the flower over to Christie, who took a sniff herself. Stella glanced at the cover of her book, and was suddenly reminded of something she'd been told many years ago.

"I heard once that Forget-me-nots symbolise timelessness and the eternal. Kinda fitting for them to have been brought from Earth really. Even if the planet itself is destroyed, our memories of it will continue onwards forever."

Christie smiled again.

"Yes. I'm sure they will."


	5. Orion: Artemis

"My glaive hungers for blood!"

A sudden rumbling sound emanated from Arty's stomach, and Stella fought to stifle her laughter as her friend froze in the middle of her purposefully dramatic pose, katana held skyward.

"That…was my glaive."

Stella couldn't contain it any longer and roared with laughter, and Artemis glared at her with such ferocity that the very air between them seemed to turn to ash. When the other didn't react, she huffed and stabbed her sword into the ground before kicking the blade unceremoniously. A fire blazed into life between them as Stella forced her laughter under control and Artemis sat down before yanking some food from amongst her pile of gear.

"I really don't get you sometimes Arty. Riley makes you that awesome sword and you go and name it something cheesy. Sure, the ones we've unearthed around the planet sound just as cliché, but don't you think that 'Cursed Glaive: Eclipse' is taking that trend a little too far? Why not stick to the planet's trend and use 'Ethereal Glaive' instead? It is Thermal after all."

"I already told you Stel. Hell, you were there when I named the damn thing. And I don't think I need to explain my lineage yet again."

"Yeah yeah, Ragnarok's right around the corner, I've heard that one before. And let's not forget that time when Riley wanted to nickname you Luna."

"Only thing I hate more than that name is the stupid jokes he keeps making."

"Don't remind me. You got the food there? I'm starving."

Arty dug around in the pile again and threw a ration pack over to Stella, who caught it before tearing the packet open and digging in.

"Thanks. Gods, it been ages since I had to eat one of these. But we'll be feasting for weeks if the hunt goes well."

"I just hope that Kiernan can cook it all. Poor girl's not gonna be able to catch a break when we haul an entire goddamn Simius into the barracks."

"Bets on it actually being able to get through the gate?"

"Zero. I'm flying that thing over the wall just to see everybody's reactions."

"Why am I not surprised."

* * *

Next morning, having slept a rough night under the Noctilum sky, the two of them kicked some dirt over the remains of the fire and packed up before resuming the previous day's northward trek, following footprints and other markings that most people would have missed. It was three hours before they reached their goal: a sleeping Simius, its arms scarred and its mane caked in the remains of its last hunt. The two of them crouched behind a tree while they planned the attack.

"Well, here's our Overed. That thing's gonna feed half of Division Drive for a week. You gonna go first this time or should I?"

"That depends. Do we wanna cook the meat before we flavour it or the other way around?"

"I wouldn't call passing millions of volts of electricity through its nervous system 'flavouring it', but who am I to argue with you?"

"An insane Mediator with a stabby disposition. Killing blow gets bragging rights. Get zapping."


	6. Responsibility: Flame

Stella threw her wrench down and sighed. Her Skell was still malfunctioning and she had no idea why. It had started a few weeks ago, after a particularly rowdy tyrant had knocked her to the ground and began tearing Hazama apart in an attempt to get to the cockpit. She'd taken it through the usual repairs, but even after a second round and a checkover by Alexa, it still refused to function properly. Every time she booted up the engine, it simply refused to supply power to the right shoulder. As a result, her G2-Buster wasn't able to function properly, and the right arm was affected too.

"Something on your mind?"

Stella saw a streak of dusky red out of the corner of her eye and turned, a tired smile already forming on her face. It wasn't often that she saw Flame around the place: the woman was usually either at her workbench, out on a mission with H.B. or otherwise occupied. Her roaring red hair was dulled with dust and metal, and her practical outfit covered in oil streaks and the occasional burn mark.

"Flame? Good to see you. I'm just trying to fix my Skell. The power's acting up and the right shoulder's not getting the proper amount. I had Alexa look it over but she can't figure it out either."

A frown crossed the mechanic's face as she walked over to Hazama's maintenance bay and hauled herself up to get a better look at the shoulder. Pulling off the armour plate, she passed it down to Stella and stuck her head in, only to withdraw it a few moments later.

"You mind turning this on? I've got a theory."

"Sure. Watch that you don't fry your face though."

Stella climbed up the torso and slid into the cockpit, taking a moment to ensure that Flame wasn't in the way before firing up the engine. As the machine whirred to life around her, she took out her comms and synced it before pulling up a scan of her frame's power circuit. Extracting herself from the cockpit, she showed the results to her friend.

"Here. The power's not flowing properly into the right shoulder, and the entire arm's affected as a result. Any idea what could be causing it?"

Flame gazed vacantly at the scan, deep in thought, and Stella briefly wondered if she'd actually got any sleep the previous night. The mechanic muttered something to herself a few moments later and climbed back up to look in the arm.

"I see…whoever fixed this got the cables mixed up. If we shuffle these around and put everything back in the proper place, it should work. But then again, everything looks in order, so what could…Stella, could you turn it off for a moment?"

The Mediator obliged, and within moments, Flame had a bundle of cables in her arms. The pair picked their way through them before Flame found what she was looking for.

"Here. The casing is damaged and there's a shard of something inside. Virago claws repulse electricity and have a minor magnetic field to aid them with their digging. It'd hard to see, and since it was on the underside of the cable after it was replaced it's likely that the mechanic either missed it or chose not to do anything about it. If the second, somebody needs a talking to. You know who worked on this?"

"No, sorry. I was off jogging around the rim of the city at the time."

"Alright then. I'll do what I can to see what happened. I'll get going then."

"Thanks Flame. Really. I'll pay you back as soon as I can. You free for a meal anytime soon?"

"I'll check my schedule and get back to you later. See you around."


	7. Downtime: Cathan

The two BLADEs passed through Green Threshold and entered Noctilum. As the short passageway opened up onto a view of Rustpool Banks, one of the pair pointed to a cluster of oversized mushrooms a short ways across the area.

"The flowers we've been asked to gather should be over that way! As for the berries, we should find them on the way there!"

Stella nodded, checking for the hundredth time that the gathering pouch she'd brought with her was big enough to hold all the stuff they'd been tasked to collect.

"Got it. Lead on if you want, I can bring up the rear."

Cathan grinned and gave an exaggerated salute before casually leaping off the raised ledge they were standing on, landing lightly on his feet a few metres below. Stella followed a moment later, and the two of them began the short trek towards their goal, stopping at the bases of the trees, ferns and rocks along the way in order to search for the unobtrusive berries that they had been tasked to get. Stella found herself amused at how Cathan's ears twitched every time he found a patch of them and excitedly shoved them into his satchel.

The indigens seemed to leave them alone for the most part, and the few that approached them with more than mild curiosity were sent scattering with a threatening glare. The journey passed quickly, and the pair were soon picking the flowers they were looking for at the base of the mushrooms. It was only a short while before they'd got all they needed and the pair began the walk back to NLA, hoping that the return journey would be just as uneventful as the first leg.

* * *

They spent the evening over dinner, which Stella had offered to pay for on the grounds that she had more than enough credits to spare. Their client, a botanist, had thanked them for gathering what they needed and invited them to check back in a few days to see the results of their studies. Cathan ate more than Stella had thought it was possible for a mimeosome stomach to hold, and picked at her own plate with an unusually small appetite. Cathan spoke at her though a mouthful of food, but quickly realised that she couldn't understand a word and washed it down with some water.

"How's everything been going for you? We don't see each other particularly often these days after all!"

Stella rocked her head in a so-so motion and shrugged.

"Ups and downs, same as usual. I've been sparring more than usual though, and it's really taking its toll. I'm always up for some training but it gets utterly exhausting when it's basically all that happens."

Cathan pouted, an exaggerated movement that the mediator had long since grown accustomed to.

"I really hope you get a break soon. It's not fair that you have to work so hard when some of the others here get off so lightly."

"I'm fine with it. Someone else would probably accept the challenge if I declined it, so I might as well let them focus on their own work."

Cathan sighed, but perked up when he noticed someone across the street and waved excitedly. Stella turned to see Gwin waving back, his perpetually embarrassed grin on his face. She turned back to see Cathan shovelling the last of his food into his mouth before getting to his feet and dashing across the road. It was only once he'd got there that he turned back and shouted at her, drawing looks from passersby.

"Thanks for the food Stella! I'll see you around!"

Stella gave Cathan a small wave of farewell before turning back to her food. It was hardly going to eat itself after all.


	8. Scavenge: Draco

The hunt had proven fruitless, and it was past midday by the time they gave up and took a rest. The pair took a break for lunch at the edge of a nearby pond, and Stella complained tiredly as she bit into a sandwich. It was her first time working with the Reclaimer, and while she'd been initially sceptical (not every BLADE was as good as they said they were after all), her partner had instantly proven to be more than worthy of his title when they'd been ambushed by a patrolling Punisher Simius. He'd dispatched it without wasting a single movement, leaving Stella musing as to where he'd learned his skills and whether or not Nagi was aware he had a following.

"We've searched almost the entire area up and down, and even took a look around the southern part under the bridge, but not a trace of the debris we're looking for. I'm not one to question their ability, but are BLADE sure they got the right place? They've been off about trajectories before."

Draco opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a ringing sound: a call on his comms, the tone matching that of BLADE HQ. Expression unreadable, the Reclaimer took one last bite of his food before taking out the device and accepting the call.

"Draco here. What's the trouble?"

Vandham's voice, distorted as usual by the connection, crackled through from the other end.

"Right to the point as always. Since you're still out there I'd guess you've had no luck with the search, but we need something done. The FrontierNav probe in the area's been acting up for a while. It wasn't too bad to start with and we hoped it would fix itself, but…"

Draco nodded, and Stella briefly wondered what was going through his head behind those sunglasses.

"FN 225? We'll check it out. It'd be easier than sending a second team. Even if we can't fix it, we can at least get a feel for the problem."

"Yeah. Take Little Miss Kuroi with you if she's still there: That's deep Simius territory you're wading into."

The call ended, and the pair finished their food before heading off towards their target. It was a short while before they arrived, and the two crouched among the nearby plants as they saw the source of the problem: a vast pile of shrapnel, debris and twisted metal sitting right on top of where the probe had been planted. Stella muttered to herself as she eyed the pair of Wrathful Simius lounging nearby, seemingly guarding the pile.

"No wonder the probe's not working properly. Having all that on top of it must be massively interfering with the sensors. It's strange though, I've never seen this kind of behaviour before. Simius aren't documented to have hoarding habits, so it's almost like they're cleaning up the planet…"

Draco shook his head.

"Let's not worry about that for now. We can take out the Simius and call in a retrieval team to get the scrapheap back to NLA: Our original objective is almost certainly in there. You ready?"

"Whenever you are. Should we just dive right in or have you got a plan?"

The Reclaimer glanced over at their targets, eyes flickering from point to point behind his shades before pointing out a route with his finger.

"Get their attention and climb up there. Keep them occupied while I strike from the rear but keep an eye out for any unwelcome guests, indigenous or otherwise."

Stella nodded before drawing her knife and slipping into a coiled stance, mentally tracing a path with her eyes.

 _Pick up the rock and throw it, dash forwards, kick off that one's head onto the roots and pelt them with whatever I can find up there until Draco moves in. Right then, let's get this done._

As Draco lowered himself into the greenery and drew his blade, Stella focused, blinked twice and leapt.


	9. Challenge: Sergio

"That's…large."

"Size isn't everything, girl. It's going down whether it wants to or not."

Stella's mouth twisted into a grimace as the two of them gazed up at the gigantic tyrant they had been tasked to take down: A vast Cinicula that was in the process of rising out of the ground before them. Easily the largest of its kind they had ever laid eyes on, it was a wonder that it hadn't been noticed sooner given the fact that it was easily within sight of the city walls. The Mediator unsheathed her knife and airily threw a question towards her partner.

"What was the plan again?"

Sergio drew his Photon Sabre, the beam of brilliant orange light extending from the hilt in a moment, accompanied by a noticeable rise in temperature.

"Kill it until it dies."

"Perfect."

Stella dived forwards to draw the attention of their target, who bellowed at her before launching a beam from its mouth. She dodged the easily telegraphed attack before stabbing upwards into its jaw. The force of the strike slammed the Cinicula's mouth shut, only for it to be blown open a moment later by an explosion as the beam misfired. Eckart reeled and roared as Stella dropped to the ground before backpedalling furiously. The girl allowed herself a grin, but it was cut short by the sudden shock of being knocked to the ground.

Scrabbling to right herself and clamber to her feet, she glimpsed her attacker: A Grex, seemingly alone and likely starved mad due to its separation from the pack. It made to lunge at her, but howled with surprise and pain as Sergio shoulder-charged it from the side, stabbing it with his photon sabre and knocking it off its feet. In a single movement, the Harrier ripped its tail off and slashed the blades on the underside of the appendage across the throat of his target, mortally wounding it and spraying the pair with blackish-purple blood.

Sergio tossed the tail aside before turning to Stella and hauling her to her feet, his gruff expression betrayed by his glancing eyes, checking for any sign of injury.

"Watch yourself next time."

"Y-Yeah" Stella replied, more than slightly shaken. "Lost my focus for a moment there. At least I wasn't too badly hurt this ti-"

A shadow fell over them and Stella found herself thrown clear as Eckhart stomped down on where she'd been standing barely a second ago. With her partner still underneath it.

"SERGIO!"

Stella righted herself in mid-air, landing on all fours and bearing witness to something that relieved her as much as it awed her: Sergio standing beneath the Cinicula's foot, every artificial muscle in his body tensed and screaming. In a pure display of raw strength accompanied by a roar of exertion, the Harrier pushed back against the several tons of giant bug that was trying to flatten him and, after a tense moment, launched the offending leg skyward, only for it crashed down a few metres away with a sickening snap.

Sergio swayed slightly and fell to one knee as Stella ran over to him, grabbing his sabre from the side of the Grex where her partner had left it on the way.

"You alright!?"

"Don't worry after me. I've had worse."

Sergio took his weapon from Stella's offering hand and hauled himself to his feet again, and the pair looked on as Eckart staggered upright, its newly broken foreleg causing it to screech in agony. Sergio flipped his sabre in his hand and grunted, activating Overdrive. He rolled his shoulders to loosen the tension and took a combat stance with a sigh.

"Well then. Let's make it quick and take this sucker down."


	10. Exhale: Schwarzer

Stella stretched her arms out and sighed, resting her head on her jacket. As the heavy yet calming smell of woodsmoke that was thoroughly embedded in the leather filled the air, Stella adjusted her position on the ground to a more comfortable one and reached to her side for a sandwich, only to brush against a hand and draw a quiet yelp of surprise from its owner.

Stella turned her head and smiled slightly at the red-haired boy lying on the grass next to her, a pile of sandwiches and other traditional picnic foods between them.

"Heh, sorry. One tends to space out when staring at a sky as pretty as this one."

Schwarzer nodded absently as he crammed the food he'd taken into his mouth, as if a Simius could walk by them at any moment to steal their picnic. Stella took a bite of her own sandwich as the boy spoke through a mouthful of bread and fish.

"I can't understand a word you're saying."

The Pathfinder gave her an apologetic glance before swallowing the food and replying.

"I was saying that I'm glad you like it! The sky's so pretty here, what with the gigantic moons and all. And everything else too! The breeze in Primordia is nice as well."

Stella returned his nod as she took another bite. It was early in the afternoon, and the sky was mostly clear with indigens being nowhere to be found. Schwarzer had approached her a few days ago with an offer for lunch as a half-apology for a previous event. She'd accepted, and now the two of them were here. After weeks of bustling around NLA, offering help to and sparring with just about everybody, Stella was exhausted and had wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep. Now, with the wind ruffling her hair and the sun inching closer to the horizon, she concluded that this was somehow better than a hard-earned lie-in.

* * *

The two of them had eaten mostly in silence, savouring the quiet time before having to return to the comparatively frantic pace of city life. As the sun began to set, Stella noticed that Schwarzer was shivering slightly. Finishing her mouthful, she picked up her folded jacket and held it out to him.

"Wear this. It'll keep the cold out."

Schwarzer hesitated, but took it gratefully and drew it close around him. Stella pretended not to notice the boy burying his nose in the fabric, and picked up the last sandwich before offering it to her friend, who waited a moment before reaching out for it.

His thanks were cut short by the sight of an Ovis, its face buried in the grass, nosing its way towards them. Schwarzer stilled for a moment before breaking into a smile and coaxed the sheep-like Indigen towards him. Stella stood up warily as it ambled over to the two of them, and watched her red-haired companion gently stroke the top of its head with his free hand, offering it the food he still held in the other. The Ovis sniffed the bread a few times, then picked it up in its mouth before turning and trotting away on its stubby legs, its fluffy tail swaying contentedly. Schwarzer smiled after it as it disappeared into the lengthening shadow of a nearby rock formation, before turning to Stella with the same look on his face.

"Thanks for agreeing to this, Stella. We should do it again sometime!"

The Mediator helped him to his feet and gathered up what little mess they'd left before smiling back at him, a mischievous look on her face.

"Yes. We really should. And who knows? Maybe we can feed a bigger Indigen next time. I have a certain oversized ether bird in mind."

"Haha…y-you are joking, right? P-Please say you're joking!"


End file.
